This study examines the association between couple implicit rules related to facilitating disclosure and marital quality with husband and wife romantic relational aggression as potential mediators. Couples (N-353 couples) who participated in the Flourishing Families Project, reported on their use of couple implicit rules related to disclosure. Results indicated that implicit rules for couple disclosure were positively related to marital quality for both husbands and wives. Those couples who reported more use of implicit rules related to disclosure were also likely to use less romantic relational aggression. In turn, both husband and wife romantic relational aggression was negatively related to their own as well as their partner's marital quality. Romantic relational aggression was a significant mediator between couple implicit rules for disclosure and marital quality for both husbands and wives. Implications for marital therapy are discussed.

Using data from 584 individuals identifying themselves as married, the purpose of this study was to examine how personal and relational characteristics were linked to financial attitudes, knowledge, and capabilities and financial well-being using the family financial socialization framework (Gudmunson & Danes, 2011). Supporting the first two hypotheses, marital quality, materialism, age, and household income were found to directly predict financial prudence as a measure of financial attitudes, knowledge, and capabilities and to indirectly predict retirement savings rate as a measure of financial well-being. Financial prudence supported the first hypotheses as well by directly predicting retirement savings rate. Education also supported the first hypothesis, in that it directly predicted an individual's measure of financial prudence. In support of the third hypothesis, education was associated with retirement savings rate. Results suggest the importance of considering both financial and non-financial predictors of saving for retirement.

As we examined research on the relational effects of incest on survivors, several researchers noted that some of the negative outcomes may be moderated by certain family characteristic variables. Using RELATE data, we examined a subsample of females and males who reported being survivors of incest in childhood and compared them on key family-of-origin processes such as mother and father's marital satisfaction as well as family violence. We used a path analysis to determine whether family processes, specifically functional parents' marriage and low physical violence, moderate the relationship between incest and marital quality in adulthood. Functional family-of-origin processes significantly moderated the relationship between sexual child abuse and adult marital quality for female survivors (β = -.55, p <.001) and for male survivors (β = -.43, p <.001). Therapists who work with survivors of sexual abuse should not only recognize the effects of childhood sexual abuse on individual and relational functioning, but should also recognize the familial context in which the incest occurred as well as the long-term relational effects on an adult survivor. The results of this study imply that family therapy should be part of the treatment and prevention of sexual abuse.

The purpose of this study is to use family stress theory to examine the relationship between age at first marriage and marital quality and divorce. Age at marriage continues to increase and the demographics keep changing. Past research suggests that early age at marriage has been a contributing factor to divorce risk. Marital quality outcomes can also give us an idea of how well couples are faring in their marriages. This study employs a sample from a longitudinal, nationally representative investigation (CREATE), which has followed newlywed couples since 2016. The sub-sample for this study comes from wave one and includes 1,811 women and 1,649 men. Using ordinary least squares (OLS) regression, I analyzed sixteen marital stability and quality outcomes and age at first marriage models for men and women separately. Overall, there were only a few, weak, significant relationships between age at marriage and marital stability and quality outcomes, suggesting that age at first may not be a particularly robust indicator of marital success, perhaps because strong norms for the right age to marry have diminished and couples who marry early do so because they want to rather than feeling they have to. Therefore, practitioners can help couples focus on more significant factors than age for marital success.

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Type 2 diabetes affects more than one-quarter of older adults in the United States. Many older adults manage type 2 diabetes (T2D) in the context of marriage, although few studies have acknowledged the effect the illness has on marital quality. The current study examined how the presence of T2D in later life relates to marital quality, and how positive health behaviors--diet, physical activity, and sleep--can moderate the relationship between T2D and marital quality. Data from the 1,200 married older adults in the Life and Family Legacies study were used to estimate moderation models using structural equation modeling in Mplus. Results indicated that T2D is associated with declines in marital quality. In addition, lower glycemic diets moderate the association such that healthy diets (higher intake of low glycemic indexed foods) buffer the impact on T2D on marital quality. These findings suggest T2D effects social relationships, and that positive health behaviors, especially healthy diets, can help buffer the negative association between T2D and marital quality. These results have implication for health care providers who can view patients' diabetes management in the context of their health behaviors and social relationships to best provide resources for management.

Teenage marriage is a topic that has received limited attention from researchers. In 1990 nearly one out every five first time brides in the United States was under the age of 20. Although it is commonly accepted that these marriages are likely to end in divorce, there is little scientific evidence to validate that. The focus of most studies has been on negative outcomes of these marriages however little concrete evidence has been found to condemn all teen marriages as doomed. This study is a qualitative look at how six couples that married as teenagers have created successful and long lasting unions. Six white couples from the Eastern U.S. participated in 60 to 90 minute long interviews. Using a qualitative method and a phenomenological perspective this study describes the processes these couples believe are most important to their success. The couples provided their personal experiences as well as their unique perspectives on the ingredients necessary for marital success. Five major themes emerged from the couples' interviews including commitment, communication, shared values, spirituality, intimacy, and family. These five themes are common within the literature on strong marriages. In addition to these themes, the role of couple individuality and the process of growing together are discussed. / Master of Science